Having the Right Message During Difficult&nbspTimes

The author's views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.

Two weeks ago, the tri-state area experienced the sheer force of Mother Nature as Hurricane Sandy slammed into the area. The aftermath of the storm left homes devastated and millions without access to basic essentials, such as electricity, heat, and water.

As a business, disasters are especially tough to navigate. Businesses want to show their commitment to their customers and demonstrate their support, but often times, it's difficult to know how to approach the situation.

Below are a few examples of how different companies from VC-backed startups to big brands displayed positivity in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In times like these, the following companies showed their dedication, passion, and commitment to their customers, their company, and to each other.

Startups

Value: Transparency and Commitment

Squarespace is a hosted content management system known for its responsive and design friendly WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) editor. As a result of Hurricane Sandy, one of the company's data centers in downtown Manhattan lost its power (even with redundant backup systems in place). The incredible part of thie story was that through this entire ordeal, none of their customers lost any downtime because of the dedication of Fog Creek, Squarespace, and Peer1 employees who banded together to save their generators by manually carrying fuel up 17 flights of stairs. According to Squarespace, these efforts received media coverage from prominent sites, such as The Verge, The New York Times, Fast Company, and many more.

Value: Community

Gilt is a designer fashion flash deals site. Gilt and other businesses across the country (from New York to San Francisco) built a partnership to launch the Donate Today, Save Tomorrow initiative. The donations received from this effort are donated to different business and communities that have been affected by Hurricane Sandy. Those who donate will receive vouchers from various participating businesses, such as Tumblr, AOL, and Virgin America.

Gilt has also launched an API version of the website that would enable developers to participate in the program in other innovative ways.

Another example of a startup company that valued its community is Airbnb, a travel rentals site. They partnered with nyc.gov to develop a Donated Sandy Housing Directory that listed all users who were offering up free housing to others who were without power, food, and water. Both host and guest had all fees waived, while Airbnb still offered hosts insurance for up to $1 million. Airbnb's efforts were featured on Tech Crunch and the Los Angeles Times.

Finally, Tumblr and Humans of New York (HONY) joined together to raise over $100,000 for Hurricane Sandy Relief. HONY is a popular Tumblr site ran by photographer Brandon Stanton as a visual census of New York City life. The photo blog demonstrates the power of photography in visualizing the human condition, as well as establishing an online community that binds people together through demonstrations of empathy, support, and kindness.

E-Commerce/Small Businesses

Value: Engaging with Your Audience

Skullcandy, a headphones and ear buds e-commerce site donated 100% of all proceeds from their November 10th sales to surf shops located on the New Jersey and New York coast that have been affected by the hurricane. The purpose was to get these coastal surf shops up and running as quickly as possible with full discretion to use the funds as needed.

Big Brands

Value: Prioritizing Customers via Email Marketing

Chase Bank sent an email to all their customers located in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions letting them know that although hundreds of their branches and machines had been damaged by the hurricane, they were working hard to distribute portable generators, so that these machines would quickly function again. In addition, Chase announced they were also extending waivers and automatic refunds on several of their fees as a result of the hurricane, such as late fees on loans, insufficient funds fees, and overdraft protection.

Verizon also sent emails to targeted residents from specific zip codes offering free device charging regardless of whether the individual was a Verizon customer or not, as well as free domestic calling.

Kimpton hotels is a United States boutique hotel chain. This article on Return Path shows that because the hotel chain sent timely and targeted emails addressing people's immediate concerns, such as canceling reservations at no charge, their emails resulted in a very high read rate. In this case, it doubled the normal read rate.

United Airlines also sent out a targeted email to customers outside of the tri-state area urging them to donate their frequent flyer miles.This provided another channel to engage existing loyal customers, as well as demonstrate some of the company's values.

Community Organizations/Non-Profits/Volunteers

We could never discount the work of community organizations and non-profits who continuously step up to the challenge and support their community. I was immensely touched by this story of how a local grassroots organization in the Lower East Side/Chinatown of Manhattan stepped up in a very desperate time of need for many people. After the hurricane, there weren't enough official federal and city resources to ensure that individuals in these areas had enough basic essentials to survive. CAAAV took it upon themselves to go door-to-door and ensure that the elderly, the sick, and others who were not as mobile had food, water, and heating supplied by the organization's own funds.The stream of volunteers they've received via phones, social media, and word-of-mouth was also heartwarming.

In addition, there are endless stories of amazing volunteers, such as NYC marathon runners who instead, took that Sunday to travel to Staten Island and volunteer in the community, as well as "Occupy Sandy" organizers who put together an Amazon wedding registry for supply donations. There is also a story about a young boy who donated all his Halloween candy to those who were unable to have their own Halloween.

Finally, there is Sesame Street, who on November 9th aired a very special episode where a hurricane swept through Sesame Street. Big Bird's nest was destroyed and all his friends came around to support him in his time of need.

All in all, delivering the right message to customers during their time of need is actually quite simple - be genuine, kind, and empathetic. When they need you, you're there for them and one day, they'll kindly return the favor. After all, we're in this together.

About StephanieChang —

Director of Performance Marketing at Etsy. Former Senior Consultant / Head of New York at Distilled. Passionate about teaching & learning. Contact me on Twitter at @stephpchang

The only thing I'd say with a note of caution is: do it for the right reasons. Offer help, free things, donations, but do it because you genuinely want to help - not because you want the press.I'm not suggesting any of these are in that position, but if you are considering something like this, do it from the heart.

As an ecommerce company, we offered to match our Facebook fans donations to a bush fire appeal here in Australia. It didn't go down well with about 1% of our fans, so I agree with Benj, tread carefully (we had the best intentions and our other 99% of fans stood up for us).

Spot on here. If it is truly altruistic reasons then the PR will come naturally on the back of the sincerity. I agree with Yoav, it would be appalling if it became another black hat tactic. Sadly I am sure that some nefarious idiots out there are already thinking down that route.

All great examples of Real Company Sh... 'Stuff'. Whether you believe in karma or not, doing the right thing when people are in need has the potential to go further than any planned link building campaign ever could...

I've been lucky enough to get to know a lot of key bloggers in our main niche (pets) and some of the most effective link building (which certainly wasn't intentional) has been done by people who are supporting shelters. Getting behind a cause that's relevant and emotive instantly grabs the attention of everyone - press included - and can be done at just about any scale and budget :)

After being bombarded by examples of companies who make social media gaffes during crises, it's nice to see some positive examples. You can't fake sincerity in the long run, but companies who really mean what they say can do very well in today's incredibly fast-moving marketing environment.

I have to also completely agree that it is always nice to hear about what people are doing right instead of criticizing (but learning from) the people who are doing things wrong. I think you are definitely right, Dr. Pete, when it comes to not being able to fake sincerity and even if it works in the short term, it will eventually be seen through.To that last point, I think it is important to find things that your company or individuals do care deeply about and then making sure to reach out to that community to help, so that there is no possibility of the intentions being misinterpreted. Obviously with Sandy this was different because there was such widespread support and empathy across all walks of life

Well if that letter from little Mr. Hughes doesn't warm your heart than I am not sure what will. I agree with the point here that it should definitely be coming from a place purely of help and being part of the community. But, I strongly believe that charity and goodwill are definitely solid marketing and there is no problem with this. As long as you are being genuine and not trying to get a photo op or press clipping (or link of course!) then I think that everyone is all good.

Great article and we all hope that the Northeast gets a break for a little bit. As a resident of Florida, I can relate to having some hurricane issues

Great work and my RESPECT to all who help others (who need
them)! I love the idea of the community as it does not only mean helping others
but it also strongly proposes the message that gets helped when you need others
to help you.

I guess the greatest
and contribution is of the kid who giveaway all what he have by thinking more
about their child who had a terrible Halloween!

I really RESPECT you for putting together this article to encourage
all those who should be appreciated.

Seeing charity through the mind of a young boy like that is great. It is one of the best and most pure examples of the human propensity towards altruism, community, and empathy. Being concerned with the community and not caring about giving up something material like candy (or money, time, and effort for adults). Also, the sense of community because he is reaching out for a connection. He wanted to humanize himself to the person with a picture and talking about himself and continue to communicate if possible. The example is a very micro level about how individuals and companies should treat community service and charity, be passionate about the work you are doing first and foremost and if ancillary benefits results than that is just a bonus

Experienced a little fall out from Sandy myself when the Hosting company for one of my sites got hit with power loss, They recovered in just a few hours through back up but still managed to send out out an email to all there customers and Credit Accounts with a little compensation, Needless to say they very much impressed me.

These are great examples and definitely a change from the negative ones we heard right after the storm hit. My family is in the northeast so I know "get your mind off the storm with our 24 hour sales!" weren't what they were looking for at the time. This is almost "accidental marketing" - it's good business first, good marketing second. As someone else said above: good #RCS.

Stephanie:Thanks for putting this list together. A few of the bigger companies have been blasted for poor customer service in the past. It is a comfort to see that in times of crisis they perform acts that show that they really do care after all.

Great article Stephanie. It’s nice to see that not only Non-profit
organizations and volunteers care about the community during the tough times,
but big companies and ecommerce businesses. With good intentions they proved
that they deserve their customers. They made their brands even stronger and
more people will be willing to trust them in future. I was touched by a small kid who donated all
his Halloween candies. His parents did a
great job.

wow, looks like the Square guys have done the best content marketing operation ive heard of, and the best part is that they didn't even intend to do it for the sake of PR worthiness.Thanks for this amazing update!